This document discusses different philosophies of education including essentialism, experimentalism, perennialism, behaviorism, reconstructionism, and existentialism. It provides details on what each philosophy believes, what they would teach, examples of each in practice, and their strengths and weaknesses. The document advocates that no single philosophy should dominate and that a balanced approach incorporating aspects of each is ideal.

1. Philosophies of
Education
Philosophical positions and
statements of purpose

2. Tools of Philosophers (1
0f 3)
Axiology is the study of values;
it asks the question of “What is
good?” From axiology, we
arrive at an understanding of
“What is good?”
We get ethics from the study of
axiology

3. Tools of Philosophers
(2 of 3)
Epistemology—”How do we
know what is true?”
This is a live question today—Do
we listen to standardized test
results to determine how much
students know, or read their
portfolios?

4. Tools of Philosophy
(3 of 3)
Metaphysics is somewhat
related to epistemology and
asks the question “What is
real?”
Are the things that are real only
the things that can be touched
and measured?
Behaviorists vs. existentialists

5. Purposes for Education
Hilda Taba,
1962--
Transmit the
cultural heritage
Transform the
culture
Maximize human
potential

6. The Seven Cardinal
Principles (1 of 2)
The Seven Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education
Commission on Re-organization of Secondary Education (1918).
1. Health
2. Command of fundamental processes
3. Worthy home membership
4. Vocational competence

7. The Seven Cardinal
Principles (2 of 2)
The Seven Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education
Commission on Re-organization of Secondary Education (1918).
5. Citizenship
6. Worthy use of leisure time
7. Ethical character

8. But what do these
mean?
Meaning comes
from at least six
philosophical
positions that
“filter” or
influence how
people perceive
educational
events.

9. Essentialism
Almost an entire generation in
America has grown up under
essentialism.
Essentialism is a conservative
view of curriculum that holds
schools responsible for only the
most immediately needed
instruction.

10. Essentialism (2)
Essentialism
avoids some of
the waste
inherent with
experimentalism
But it can
become so
conservative
that it fails to
truly educate

11. Emphasis on a traditional
education
Development of the mind
Core curriculum
Reality is based in the
physical world
Teacher-directed learning

12. Reading, spelling,
language arts
Mathematics, U. S.
& World History
No vocational
education!

13. Standardized
tests
Criterion
referenced
tests
Not as likely to

14. Using only text books
Seated row by row
Teacher lecture,
students listen
Punishment--
attempted behaviorism
but without expertise

15. Teach the basic
civilized skills of
reading, spelling
and measuring.
Limit education’s
responsibility--let
industry teach
vocational subjects

16. Writing test
Multiple choices
True/False
Binary-Choice
Matching

17. All students will
remember the
basic
information.
All students will
learn how to

18. Experimentalism
Experimentalism is associated
with a very broad but shallow
curriculum. Many electives, few
required subjects.
Experimentalism is friendly to
educational research, and many
new ideas come from it.

19. Experimentalism (2)
But
experimentalism
can be wasteful
of resources
It can also fail to
follow through
Accommodates
fads too easily

20. Experimentalism
Experimentalist
teachers like to
tinker or
experiment
They don’t like
to leave things
the same all the
time.

21. Classroom Management
for Experimentalists
Don’t like bmod
or assertive
discipline
Prefer more
constructivistic
approaches
such as
Discipline with
Dignity

22. What experimentalists
would teach
Everything--
anything that had
any relation to
students’ possible
futures
Has been accused
of trying to do the
home’s job

23. Where experimentalism
shines
When essentialism or perennialism
have been in power for so long,
school programs have become
stagnant
When school has become all work
and no play
When traditional methods have
become ineffective

24. Perennialism
Perennialism was prevalent in
the early seventies in U. S.
Perennialism reveres the
experience of teachers who
have been there.
Heavy orientation to the past 20
years--almost nil attention to
the future

25. Perennialism
Perennialists
like to teach
time-honored
curricula,
including the
classics such as
Plato an
Aristotle
They don’t like
change.

26. Perennialism
They would
include
subjects such
as:
• Geometry
• English
literature
• World
Geography
• Algebra
• Trigonometry
• Ancient
Geography
• World history
• U.S. History
• Bookkeeping

27. Perennialist Evaluation
Methodology
Teacher-made tests
Standardized test
Memory work (“mind is a
muscle”)
Spelling bees

28. Classroom Management
Assign seats in rows.
Be strict, but not
necessarily expert, with
punishment and reward.
Set up classroom rules.

29. Orientation Expected
Self-contained knowledge--
teacher is supposed to know
all the answers
Teacher is the “fountain of
all knowledge.”
Students are passive
listeners

30. Reality Testing for
Perennialists
Paper-pencil
test
Recitation
Standardized
test

31. Future Orientation for
Perennialists
Expect future to continue in the
same vein as the present
Belief that knowing the classics
of the past will equip students
for the future

32. Where Perennialism
Shines
Perennialism does help to
dampen the uncertain effects of
the fads that come to education
Not every new idea is a good
one, or one that will even be
effective.
Perennialism plays well to
traditional communities

33. Behaviorism
Behaviorism believes in a
science of behavior that would
shape the world into a better
place to live
Behaviorists to some degree
rightfully claim that behaviorism
naturally occurs in the world
whether people acknowledge it
or not

34. What behaviorists
believe
Behaviorists
believe in a
science of
behavior
They rely
heavily on
scientific
studies of
behavior and
how behavior is

35. What behaviorists would
teach
Behaviorists are at least as
concerned about how people
behave as what they know
They do not tend to be big
innovators in curriculum
They will however give a fair
trial to any new curricula that
someone else might write

36. Where Behaviorism
shines
Special ed
situations,
where students
do not pick up
on subtle cues
about learning
or behavior
Alternative and
problem schools

37. Where behaviorism will
come short
Situations where behavior is not
so much the need as the
learning of academic content
Situations where students have
internalized appropriate
behavior and behavior does not
need to be emphasized at the
expense of scholarship.

38. Reconstructionism
Reconstructionists point to a
time in the past when they
believe that things were better
They would re-create education
to be like things were back
during that time
They cite research, particularly
historical, to show that things
are not going well now.

39. What reconstructionists
believe
Reconstruction-
ists point to a
time in the past
when they
believe that
things were
better
They would re-
create
education to be
like things were

40. What reconstructionists
would teach
Reconstructionists would teach
the subjects that were taught
during that “golden age.”
The subjects would be those
that were taught during that
time.
If the 1960s, for instance, they
would teach usage of the slide
rule.

41. One example of
Reconstructionism
1946—right after
the Second
World War
GIs wanted
schools and
society to return
to what they
were before
Pearl Harbor

42. Reconstructionists and
technology
Their orientation
is very much to
the past
They and
perennialists do
not react
immediately and
positively to
new technology

43. Existentialism
Existentialists celebrate the
human existence
Very subjective
Emphasis on meaning within
each individual
May doubt external reality
Emphasis on present

44. What existentialists
believe
Existentialists
believe in the
consciousness
of the self
They are very
concerned with
whether
students find
school to be a
satisfying

45. What existentialists
would teach
Not the same
subjects to
everyone, since
not everyone
would enjoy the
same things
They would
emphasize self-
esteem and a
feeling of self-
They would
include topics
such as values
clarification and
. . . .

46. An example of
existentialism
1960—
Summerhill
School in
England
1970s in some
parts of America
—self esteem,
values
clarification

47. A healthy balance
Each of the six
philosophies has
something to
offer
The only hazard
happens when
one philosophy
rules for a long
period of time